The Genesis Scottish Open has always been a strong field event. The 2026 edition, which runs 9–12 July at The Renaissance Club in North Berwick, brings together Open preparation, European tour status management and a rare mixed field of PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV-linked players.
The latest field additions underline that mix. Aaron Rai returns as a newly crowned major champion. Brooks Koepka is back in Scotland for the first time in 11 years. And Jon Rahm is expected to tee it up as part of the agreement he struck with the DP World Tour to preserve his Ryder Cup eligibility. They join Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Viktor Hovland, Robert MacIntyre, defending champion Chris Gotterup and reigning U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun.
The event is co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour and DP World Tour and sits one week before The 154th Open at Royal Birkdale. It also serves as the penultimate route into the championship, with three qualifying spots available to non-exempt players.
Rai’s Return
Aaron Rai won the Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club in 2020, beating Tommy Fleetwood in a play-off. He returns ranked 13th in the world after becoming the first Englishman to win the US PGA Championship since Jim Barnes in 1919. It will be his ninth consecutive appearance.
“The win at Renaissance Club in 2020 was really special,” Rai said. “A lot has happened in the six years since, and particularly in the last few weeks, but I am as excited as ever to be coming back to the Genesis Scottish Open.”
For Rai, the week is straightforward: a venue he knows well, a week before the year’s final major, and a chance to carry momentum from a career-best spring.
Koepka and the Mixed Field
Brooks Koepka last played the Scottish Open in 2015, when it was held at Gullane. He made three consecutive starts from 2013 to 2015 at Castle Stuart, Royal Aberdeen and Gullane, and won on Scottish soil in 2013 on what was then the Challenge Tour.
It’s in a great spot in the week before The Open, and has an interesting field with the PGA Tour and DP World Tour guys coming together,
The five-time major champion, now competing on LIV Golf, chose this event over other pre-Open options because of the calendar slot and the field composition. The Scottish Open is one of the few regular-season tournaments where that kind of crossover happens without controversy.
Rahm’s Path to Adare Manor
Jon Rahm’s expected appearance has a different context. In February, the DP World Tour announced conditional releases for eight LIV Golf members, requiring payment of outstanding fines and participation in additional DP World Tour events. Rahm was not among them.
In March, he pushed back publicly, telling reporters he would sign if the requirement were four events rather than six.
I just refuse to play six events, that’s not what the rules say.
By May, a resolution arrived. Golfweek reported that Rahm and the DP World Tour had agreed on conditional releases for the remainder of 2026, involving payment of all outstanding fines and participation in agreed tournaments outside the majors. The Scottish Open, according to The Scotsman, is one of those agreed events, tying his appearance directly to Ryder Cup eligibility at Adare Manor.
One Tee Sheet, Several Systems
The Genesis Scottish Open now offers one of the clearest views of how the men’s game currently operates. On the same tee sheet: PGA Tour regulars tuning up for Birkdale, a LIV player fulfilling European membership obligations, and non-exempt pros chasing three of the last qualifying spots into The Open. The field is strong, and the mix makes it structurally interesting.
